Grant: Operating Grant: Industry-partnered Collaborative Research - Other Partner

Canadians aged 60 and older are the fastest growing segment of the population. Depression is a very common illness later in life and is a major contributor to high rates of disability, poor quality of life, caregiver burden and poor health outcomes. Unfortunately, up to 84% of individuals treated for late-life depression (LLD) either do not respond to treatment or respond and then relapse. Strategies for managing treatment resistance in older adults are problematic due to increased sensitivity to side effects and higher rates of prescription drug use for other medical illnesses. There are very few safe and effective options for treating patients who do not respond to antidepressants. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) involves stimulating the brain with a series of magnetic field pulses. Treatment is administered daily, five days per week, for between 30 and 45 minutes 4 weeks. In younger adults, rTMS is approved in the United States and by Health Canada for the treatment of resistant depression and has demonstrated an excellent safety profile with good efficacy. However, few studies have evaluated rTMS for older patients with LLD. While initial results have shown some evidence of efficacy for rTMS in older adults, several factors have limited its efficacy in older adults. The major factors responsible for its limited efficacy are changes in the brain that occur with normal aging and the reduced size of the magnetic field generated by conventional coils. Brainsway Limited has developed a patented novel rTMS coil (H-coil) that has a unique ability to overcome the limitations of conventional rTMS coils. Due to the overwhelming increase in the number of older adults suffering from depression that will occur with the aging of the Canadian population, alternative treatments are desperately needed. Therefore, in this study we aim evaluate the Brainsway Ltd. H-Coil in older adults with resistant depression.